Lords face full election under Brown plans

Lords face full election under Brown plans

Sunday 20 May 2007 19.25 EDT
First published on Sunday 20 May 2007 19.25 EDT

Gordon Brown is to unveil plans for a fully elected second chamber, based on proportional representation, the Guardian has learned. Mr Brown is likely to face strong opposition from members of the current House of Lords. In an effort to neutralise this, he will bring forward his proposals as part of a larger package of wide constitutional reform, based on a national consultation.

The chancellor believes a "different type of politics" is needed in order to signal a break with the last 10 years and answer critics who say his government will be more of the same.

He has already trailed a constitutional reform bill, to be introduced in the autumn, which will focus on rebalancing the relationship between parliament and the executive. MPs would get the right to vote before the country goes to war, and to vet political appointments. Mr Brown wants to return to the days when ministerial announcements were made in parliament, not on the Today programme.

One idea being discussed by the Brown team is for a "constitutional convention", bringing in other political parties, churches, trade unions and pressure groups. It would be modelled on the Scottish constitutional convention, which led to the establishment of the Scottish parliament. The aim is to bring as many different views as possible into the process of reforming the constitution in order to claim a mandate for change.

Mr Brown has indicated that he is open to discussion about changing the voting system to the House of Commons too, though he insists that however MPs are elected, they must retain the constituency link. He is believed to favour the system of alternative voting, under which voters list their preferences in order, and if no candidate has a majority, the second choices of those who picked the least popular candidate are counted. One minister close to Mr Brown described a switch to that system as "a step forward".

Two of the six candidates for deputy leader support a change to the voting system at Westminster. Alan Johnson said last week he had been a supporter of proportional representation for years and described it as "something we have to return to"; and Peter Hain said he supported the alternative vote, though not other types of proportional representation.

MPs voted for a fully elected second chamber by a majority of 113 in March, but the government has not committed itself to implementing it. At the time, Mr Brown voted for an option that would make 80% of the Lords elected, and 20% appointed.

Labour started reform in 1999 when all but 92 of the 750 hereditary peers lost their right to sit in the chamber. It promised to complete the reform, but for years failed to reach agreement over what shape the upper house should take. The recent "cash for peerages" allegations have convinced Mr Brown that full reform is necessary, to prevent any further hints of corruption or patronage in the way people enter the second chamber.